Thursday, January 12, 2017

Anti-car lobby in action

According to the Examiner's story, that was unclear right after the accident:

According to SFPD the truck and its driver remained on scene and is cooperating with the investigation. The Traffic Collision Investigation is conducting an active investigation, and the intersection is closed at Union and Buchanan. It’s unknown if the driver ran a stop sign, was driving under the influence or committed any crime (First pedestrian fatality of the year takes place in Cow Hollow).

But that didn't stop Walk SF from blaming the driver:

“We’re heartbroken to hear about San Francisco’s first traffic fatality of the year,” Nicole Ferrara, Executive Director of Walk SF, told the Examiner. “Our thoughts go out to the victim’s loved ones. On behalf of the Vision Zero Coalition, we continue to call on The City to work on improvements to our streets that would prevent the dangerous driving that claimed another innocent life today. We also call on the City to focus their enforcement on the top two violations that cause the greatest number of severe injuries and deaths on our streets: speeding and failing to yield to people in crosswalks.”

Ferrara is never too heartbroken to advance her organization's anti-car agenda. Maybe she could take the time to explain how "enforcement" or Vision Zero could have prevented this accident. And, by the way, the reporter knew she could get that sort of sound-bite from Walk SF for the story.